Followed
by The-Young-Volcano O.o
Summary: The one who's known as the most irritating out of the Four, Strife, was sent by the Council to Yamatai so he could investigate the unnatural things that have been occurring. LaraxStrife in the future. Rated M for language.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Hello! This one has been in the back of my head forever. I tried writing it in third person for a change, but that didn't work out too well, so I restarted and decided to post this little piece. *shields eyes* Hope you like it! Leave a review if you'd like. X3**

_"I can feel you falling away,  
No longer the lost,  
No longer the same.  
And I can see you starting to break,  
I'll keep you alive,  
If you show me the way,  
Forever, and ever,  
the scars will remain…  
I'm falling apart,  
Leave me here forever in the dark…"  
-Give me a Sign, Breaking Benjamin_

**X-**

Prologue

**Lara Croft**

Everything was normal minutes ago.

Now I'm staring at the boat's front half that's separated from the back. With my fingers fixated over the metal shelving, I could just barely see Roth standing on the other half, soaking wet from the rain. He held his hand out, encouraging me to jump. I closed my eyes for a brief moment before starting to run towards the other half. I forced myself to jump.

With my eyes squeezed shut, I didn't expect for Roth's hand to wrap around mine. A wave of relief and hope came over me, but when I started slipping out of his grasp, it felt like it was never there. I started falling towards the sea, and once I hit I couldn't make out where the surface was.

That's when I felt arms wrap around my waist.

I struggled to get away, but I could tell the man who had me was strong and wasn't planning on letting me go anytime soon. I tried to convince myself that it was Alex, or Jonah maybe. But this man seemed taller, and much more muscular. Either way, I gave up and let him pull me towards shore.

Once my heels dug into the sand and my head resurfaced, he let me go and swam back into the ocean. I started gasping for air, walking out of the water. Once I was finally out of any danger of drowning, I collapsed, coughing up the salt water I unintentionally inhaled. I forced myself to look up and found myself staring at the endurance team, pacing around a campfire. Relieved, I stood up.

"Jonah? _Reyes?!"_ I yelled as loud as I could with water still stuck in my lungs. "I'm here! It's Lara! I'm-"

I cut myself off when I looked to the right. There was a blacked out figure on the opposite side of the beach. I couldn't see any of his features. He was incredibly tall, seven feet at the least. Besides that, just bright yellow eyes staring back at me.

"What are you?" I asked aloud, narrowing my eyes and taking a step towards the figure. Before I could react, the man disappeared behind some part of the boat, and something hard slammed against the back of my head and I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Strife**

I didn't know exactly _why_ I was helping the human. If the Council didn't land me in the damned ocean, she would've drowned. I stood up on the beach, taking my mask off for a brief moment to dump the water out. After putting it back on, I looked back towards the woman, who was now yelling.

"Jonah? Reyes?!" She coughed up more water with every word. "I'm here! It's Lara! I'm-"

Lara. That was her name. It took me a moment to realize that she was staring right back at me. I just got annoyed. _I'm wasting my time, _I thought. I walked away. Looking around, the only source of light anywhere near was a small fire. there were a few humans standing around it. I began walking up to them.

"What in the hell do you think you're-" The woman cut herself off when looking at me. "Who are _you?" _Her eyes widened at Mercy and Redemption, so she took a step back along with the rest of the humans, except for one man who was trying to revive another.

"I won't hurt you." I blankly told them.

"Are you part of the Endurance?" She asked.

"...I don't follow-"

"I think we would've been able to recognize a seven foot man if he was apart of the Endurance, Reyes!" One of the other men replied. He had short blonde hair, glasses and a live preserver on. "Now who _are_ you?!"

I crossed my arms over my chest in amusement. "I don't think you'll believe me."

"Tell us anyways." He demanded.

"Well, where do I start? Let's see, I'm a Horseman of the Apocalypse, and I am called Strife. Do you need to demand anymore questions?" I pulled Redemption out and pointed it at him.

_"Whitman!" _The one named Reyes snarled. "Look, we don't know what's going on. Our ship just crashed, and now we're stranded."

"Do you know anything of this island?"

"No. We were only on an expedition, looking for an island named Yamatai."

"If you people didn't let Lara-" I cut Whitman off.

"Lara. Does she know anything?"

"Why, have you seen her?" Reyes asked.

"Yes, she's right-" I looked down to where she was standing, but she was gone. "...damn. If she knows anything, I will find her. If not, I will be on my way."

"I don't know if she does."

"Very well."

I summoned Animosity and mounted. I couldn't tell if it was the sheer power of the horse or how much she intimidated them; eitherway, all of them took another step back. I nodded once and then left. As the horse trotted through the woods, I held Mercy and thought about my assignment. If there was a purpose for so many killings here, it was a stupid purpose, because it's not every day that the Third Kingdom gets the attention of the Council, let alone anger them. And I intend to do well on this, since I haven't done many lone assignments, especially on Earth.

"Sam!" I heard Lara's voice again. It was distant, but I could hear it. What the hell, was she following me?

I quickly dismounted and got to my knees, Animosity's smoke quickly blending with the fog. With one hand still wrapped around Mercy and the other pressed firmly to the ground, I stared into the darkness to see if I could find her. Wait... why do I care? I saved her life, that's it. She's just another human.

Just another human...

I stood up and started travelling on foot, annoyed with myself for taking notice of it. It began to downpour, so I thought that I should find a place to rest for the night.

"Is anyone listening? Please respond!" Then I heard her again. I couldn't help but walk in her direction. I glanced around, standing on a ledge and looking into the night sky. That's when I heard the crackling of a fire below me. I looked down and saw Lara, sitting down in front of a fire. She held a small gray device emitting a small amount of white light that she gazed into. I heard the voice of a woman come out of it.

"Here's the soon-to-be world-famous archeologist. Lara Croft, in her native habitat. She's on the hunt for the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Home to the fabulous Himiko, mythical Sun Queen, and ancestor of, yours truly."

"Sam..." I raised an eyebrow in confusion when I heard Lara's voice, but her mouth wasn't moving. "This is serious."

"Oh, sweetie, I know. I'm just trying to lighten the mood here, everyone's so on edge! What are you so worried about?"

"I'm close to something. I just don't know if the others will believe me, or if they should..."

"Lara, you know this stuff better than anyone! Seriously, I'm not just saying this to make you feel better. I trust you, Roth trusts you. You got this. Now let's take a break, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" Lara laughed inside the device. "And Sam... thanks."

I crossed my arms. So, she did know something about this island. She sighed and rubbed her fingers over the thing, shivering from the cold weather. For the first time, I actually felt pity for a human.

"Well, upon hearing that, I am now much more interested in you." I finally said. Lara fumbled and dropped the device, jerking her head up to look at me. I held back a chuckle and jumped down, roughly ten paces away from her. "It's alright. I won't hurt you. Don't be afraid."

She glanced down at Mercy and Redemption, then met my eyes again. "I'm not afraid."

"Hmm. Well, that wouldn't explain why your heartbeat has sped up."

She scanned my body again, I suppose to see if I had my hands on the guns, which I didn't. "You saved me.

"I did."

"...why?"

I walked closer to her slowly, trying not to startle her. She just sat there motionless, her eyes following me as I sat down on the opposite side of the fire.

"Could you tell me who you are and if I should trust you?" She said blankly.

"My name is Strife, and you'll have to decide if you want to trust me or not on your own."

It was silent for a while as I gazed into the fire and she gazed at me. I didn't blame her for that, because Nephilim is rare in a human's eyes. "You're not human... are you?" She cocked her head slightly to the side as I locked eyes with her once more.

"No, I'm-"

"Nephilim?" My words got caught in my windpipe when I heard that. "Oh, sorry... it's just that..." Her face flushed red. "You just show many of the characteristics of one."

I crossed my arms and leaned back slightly, intrigued to know where she was going with this. "Such as?"

"Well, your height, for one. Your..." her face got brighter, but other than that she showed no sign of emotion. "...eyes, they glow so brightly... sorry if I sound odd, but-"

"You don't sound odd."

"It's not very likely, there are only four left. I studied the Four Horsemen for a few years in college-"

"You're a smart young woman. Already figuring out my race and occupation." I said, but frankly I felt slightly exposed. I just used my humorous nature to cover it.

She froze, and when she spoke her voice sounded amused, but it strangely didn't show. "Really?"

"Something tells me that you don't believe me."

"No, I don't at all."

I grinned behind my mask, and a silent call summoned Animosity. She walked up to me, and I put my hand over her snout.

"This is Animosity, Lara Croft." I pronounced her full name to get her attention off of the horse, and it did just that. She met my eyes again. "Now, according to your device there, you know something of this island."

"I..."

"I'm not rushing you whatsoever," I said, narrowing my eyes slightly and leaning forward. "I was sent here to find out more about this island, and why so many were being killed. And, I would be grateful if you told me what you knew."

"If this is Yamatai, then I do. If it's not... I'm just as clueless as you are."

"Hmm. So, hypothetically, if this was Yamatai, tell me what you know."

She paused for a moment, but then went on to explain everything. About the Sun Queen, Himiko; everything she said was so thought out, so detailed. But, after a good ten minutes, I tuned out her words, because she herself was becoming more interesting. I don't know. She was intriguing, without a doubt. With her dark brown hair pulled back in a band, it moving as she bobbed her head. Her dark grey stained shirt with thin straps, she would occasionally pull it up to assure it would cover her chest. The brown jeans that were tightly strapped around her legs, both in which were out in front of her and slightly bent at the knees.

I grinned behind my mask, because I was beginning to like this one.

**A/N: Hai! I'm going to be doing shorter chapters in this story, switching between Strife's point of view and Lara's. Leave a review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

So, here I was, explaining all that I knew to this complete stranger. He wasn't frightening me at all, but he was actually quite amusing. And for the first ten minutes, he seemed genuinely interested. On the Endurance, no one wants to listen to what I have to say unless it's Roth. Though after that point, he began to just look at me, rather than listen.

Though, I have to admit, I slightly did the same. The way he was seemed so interesting. His armor was black and looked rough, like it was made of cast iron. he had normal colored metal sleeves that stretched all the way past his elbows. His mask was so strangely detailed, it looked almost cat-like.

"Um... Strife?" I said when I was finished explaining.

He took his eyes off the lower half of my body and looked me in the eyes casually. "Hmm?"

I crossed my arms over my chest in embarasment. "That's all I know."

"Oh, yes. This makes everything much easier. Thank you."

I nodded, and before he turned to walk away, I would have sworn he winked at me. I raised my eyebrows and blushed slightly, which made him walk away laughing loudly. I tucked my knees up and hugged them tightly as I gazed into the fire. I fell asleep listening intently to his fading footsteps.

xxxxxxxx

It was morning when I woke up. I stood and put my hand out, making sure that the rain had stopped. Once I was sure it did, I started down a small hill.

"I can't just sit here." I mumbled under my breath. "I've got to find something to eat." After running across a thin stream, in the corner of my eye I saw a deer. It look back at me, twitching its nose and then running off. At least I knew there was something to hunt. in front of me was an old shack, the wood rotting away and collapsing. The door was bolted shut, but had a sceathe of arrows leaning against it, so I grabbed it. I heard a snap and quickly spun around,

Before I could make out what it was, I heard it again and something fell on top of me. I gasped when it pinned me to the ground. When I looked up, I saw a head, the skin rotting away and ridden with small insects. It was a corpse.

"Oh god..." I whispered, pushing the body off of me. I jumped to my feet, returning my left hand to rest over my puncture wound. "What is going on here...?" Then I saw a bow strung around its torso. I pulled it off and started in the opposite direction. Once I felt like I was far enough away, I pulled an arrow out of the sheathe and looked for something to move.

"Okay... let's see if thing still works." I told myself. "Just remember Roth's training." As soon as I pulled the bowstring back, I saw dark, almost black skin move and without hesitation, I let the arrow fly.

I heard a pained grunt followed with a, "Ah, what in the nine hells-?"

My heart dropped and I ran in the direction of the voice, slinging the bow around me. Soon enough, there was Strife, his fingers wrapped around the arrow buried into his stomach.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you-"

"That's alright." He chuckled softly and slowly pulled the arrow out without any sign of pain. "Is this revenge for me pestering you about your knowledge?"

I covered my mouth to hide a small smile as I walked a little closer to him. "Are you alright? I-"

"Nephilim heal very quickly. Though, something tells me you already know that."

I bit my lower lip. Why am I so damn embarrased? I'm never like this. "Well, I do now."

He was about to answer with something else, but his eyes traveled to my side, where my wound was. Damn it, I moved my hand. "Ah, that doesn't look good. It could get infected."

I took a half step back when his white smoky steed materialised beside him. It was a beautiful horse, without a doubt. I couldn't help but stare at it with awe.

"Lara."

A chill ran down my spine when he said my name again. He had such a beautifully terifying voice. I looked back at him, who had bandage in his hand. He pointed at my wound.

"May I?" He asked softly. I tensed, making him chuckle. "Don't worry. I'm just trying to help." After hesitating, I finally nodded. He had me sit down, and he gently wrapped it around my torso. "Do I dare ask what happened?"

"Um... well, it was a drill bit..." I cringed at the thought. "A rusting drill bit. I fell on top of it."

"You must have fallen a good fifty feet for it to go through you like that."

"Well, yes..."

He tucked the cloth underneath itself and held his hand out. I grabbed it, and he helped me to my feet. "There. That should be better. Can I have my hand back?"

I realised I was still holding it. I immediately let it go and put my hands behind my back. He just chuckled and looked at me.

"I... I have to go, I've got to get something to eat." I told him shakily.

"Very well. Until next time, Lara Croft... hoping there will be a next time."

He winked at me again and walked off. Never in my entire life, would I ever think a Horseman of the Apocalypse would know who I _was,_ let alone-at least in my eyes- hit on me. Still thinking, I shuddered and turned around, loading my bow and staring into the forest yet again.

I hit a deer with the second arrow. I heard a loud cry, followed by a _thump _as its body hit the ground. I ran over to it. It was a small doe, its final breaths squeezing in and out of its lungs where I had punctured it.

"Sorry…" I whispered, getting to my knees and wrapping my hands around the middle of the arrow. I pulled it down, slicing its chest open with a short pang of guilt to follow. I looked at the blood spilling out of the stomach. It was sickening, nothing more, and nothing less. I took a large piece of the meat, cutting it out with the arrow, and held it out in my hands. Despite the horrific feeling of raw meat on my hands, I ran back to where I began the fire. It was still flickering, but just barely. I set more sticks atop the flame and let it rise. As soon as I did, I put the meat over the fire and let it cook.

That's when I heard the radio go off. I gasped in surprise. _"This is Conrad Roth, Captain of the Endurance. We are shipwrecked on an island inside of the Dragon's Triangle."_

I pressed the button and yelled, "Roth! You're alive!"

_"Lara, easy, easy. Are you okay? What happened?"_

"I remember the beach… then it went black and I woke up in a cave…" I was going to mention Strife, but I decided on something else and continued with, "There was this crazy man, Roth… and a dead body…"

_"Oh, god…"_ He muttered_. "Where are you now, Lara? Are you safe?"_

I forced back oncoming tears. "It was so horrible… It's all my fault. This is all my fault-"

_"Lara, listen to me! I sent an S.O.S from the Endurance before I abandoned her. Hopefully someone caught it. I've spoken to the others. We're regrouping at my location."_

"…Please come and get me." I said.

_"I have to stay here. You can do this, Lara. Remember when we climbed Snowden? You said the key was knowing that all you've got to do is just keep moving."_

"Keep moving…" I repeated.

_"Remember everything I've taught you, Lara. You're ready for this. And keep your radio on."_

"Okay," I agreed. After taking a moment to convince myself, I stood up and began to jog away from the fire. I had no idea where I was going until I heard music. It was faint and echoing in my ears, but it was there. I saw the small shack that I got my arrows from earlier. My heart dropped when I saw that it wasn't bolted shut; it was wide open and flickering with light.

"Hello…? Is someone there?" I yelled, hoping someone would hear me as I walked through the door. No one was in there; only a small torch on the wall that was the source of the light. I walked up to it and took it off of the holder. I thought I heard something, so I spun around. Noting was on the walls except for grime. Though, right below me was a hole with rungs on one side, leading into the darkness.

"This could be a way out…" I said to myself. A gust of wind blew through, and it scared the living daylights out of me when that door snapped shut. I heard a faint _click_, indicating that the door had locked. "Oh, damn it!"

I guess now going down was my only option. I got to my knees and slowly made my way down into the hole. I slipped when the rungs ended, since I couldn't see if they did. I fell back hard against the concrete ground. I lay there for a few seconds before getting up, relieved that the torch hadn't gone out, because if it did, I would be in compete blackness. I took a step forward and felt water flood into my boot. I looked down and saw another hole in the wall. It was mostly filled with disgusting and polluted waters that I just had stepped in. I tightened my grip on the torch with my left hand, held my puncture wound with my left, and waded into the waters.

It felt dreadful against my side, but I ignored the sense to get out. Inside, there were so many pieces of trash and scrap metal, It took me what seemed like forever to get through the puzzle."Oh god, what am I doing…?" I finally questioned aloud, feeling like an idiot for going through this. I finally was able to get out of the water when I approached a metal staircase. On the walls on each side of me were marked with tallies, line after line after line. Besides that, there were shelves holding the skulls of these islands' victims.

"Oh god… this is _insane…"_

I tried to open a door that was now in front of me, but it wouldn't budge. _Need something to pry this open,_ I thought. I set a few boxes on fire, since there was another room behind them. As soon as the flames died down, I stepped into the room. Bodies of pigs were hanging from the ceilings. "Oh no…" I breathed out. On the table that I figured was used by a butcher was a small pry axe buried in a piece of meat. I cringed at the sight and the smell. Reluctantly, I pulled it out and tightly gripped the handle. As quickly as I could, I got out of the butcher's room and pried the door leading out open. The handle snapped and clanked against the floor. I gently pushed the door open.

Another staircase leading into complete darkness was before me. What the hell am I doing…? I'm going to get lost in here. Besides that, nothing was telling me not to go back. One by one, I descended through and waded into more infected waters. It was about up to my ribs, so I didn't have a problem walking through. I felt a pang of relief when the waters ended and moonlight was shining through a hole in the ceiling with a ladder leading to it. I put out the torch and began to climb. I found myself back in the woods. Though this time, I wasn't alone.

"Hold on, let me find out." I hear a familiar voice say.

"Sam…?" I pondered in a whisper.

"We're on the southwest side. They will need to follow that path." Now a voice I didn't know. Hearing this made me run faster towards the sound of the conversation. I saw the faint flicker of a campfire, just around a corner. I hesitated to turn.

"Did you get that?" Sam asked the person she was speaking to.

_"Got it."_ Reyes' voice rang over the radio. They're alive, hopefully all of them… I turned the corner.

"We have a fire. Look for the smoke… Lara? You made it!"

"Sam…" Relief came over me as quickly as it had left. "Thank goodness."

"…surprise!" She said awkwardly. I didn't know what she meant until I saw the man. He stood, using a cane to prop himself up. "It's okay, he's one of us."

I took a step back. "Sorry if I startled you," He said nicely, walking towards me. "This place would make anyone a little jumpy. We just spoke to your crew… they're on their way." I nodded and slowly walked towards them. "My manners… I'm sorry. I'm Mathias…" He held his hand out as a gesture for me to shake it, but I kept my fingers wrapped around the string of my bow. "A teacher by trade."

This man didn't seem very harmless. As soon as I felt that small sense of safety, I reluctantly shook his hand. "Not really cut out for island life, I'm afraid." He chuckled.

"Sweetie, you look exhausted. Sit down." Sam said cheerfully. I walked away from Mathias and sat down in front of the fire.

"Yeah." I blankly said.

"Sam here was just telling me about the Sun Queen." Mathias pointed out, setting his walking stick down beside him and sitting down.

"Right, Himiko."

"Can you tell me more? I'm intrigued…" He asked Sam, and that alone made me uncomfortable, I'm not sure for her.

"Well, believe it or not…" She began. "A couple thousand years ago, Queen Himiko pretty much ran things in Japan."

"She loves telling this story…" I said with amusement in my tone.

"Himiko was beautiful, enigmatic… but, also ruthless and powerful. Legend says she had shamanistic powers."

"And _this…"_ I muttered. "Is where she loses me."

"Well, there is always some truth to myths." Mathias said.

"She commanded an army of Samurai warriors, her magnificent Stormguard. The rode the very winds of battle, laying waste to all who opposed them.."

That's when I saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked over to it to see two bright yellow eyes shining, behind both Mathias and Sam. It was Strife…

I ignored him and tried to keep listening. Though I couldn't… I was so exhausted. I leaned back and fell asleep, listening to the crackling of the fire.

**A/N: Hello people! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I thank you for leaving reviews. I apologize for such a long update; I have been so wrapped up in Broken by the Future that I've been majorly procrastinating on getting the chapter done. Thanks for reading! :)**


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